Tag Archives: furler

Failures Bring on Frustrating Times

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Sugar Shack has had a string of failures over the last few weeks. I cannot remember a time when I’ve been so frustrated.  

Our boat has been and continues to be an amazing vessel. 

She has safely transported us over 50,000nm across both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.  She is our home, our yacht, our love and I would not trade her for anything else.  We love our Catana!

However, with anything over 24 years old you have failures.  

All of this happened over the course of 2 weeks in route to Fiji from the Marshall Islands.

Double Steering Failure

As you might recall, we had a “A Double Steering Failure” when we lost our starboard steering gear box and our port rudder arm.  This rendered our starboard helm un-steerable and our port helm without a rudder. 

Makes steering a challenge, but still doable with auto pilot using the port steering gear box and the starboard rudder.

Problem: ​Starboard Steering Gear Box failed. 

Solution: We ordered new bearings and seals from Germany for both port and starboard.  They’re being sent to Fiji where we will do repairs.

Problem: Port Rudder Arm failed. 

Solution: The good news is it broke at the attachment point.  We found the one man who has the tools to weld stainless and he fixed our rudder arm! We need to weld the two pieces together at the exact correct length to reinstall the rudder arm.

Matt and I searched for a stainless welder all over Funafuti over 3 days.  We finally found the one man who has the tools and expertise.  He tack welded the two pieces together, then did some grinding, then finished the welding.  We are back in business with two rudders!

A Massive Disappointment

Port Engine Failure

Problem: Our port engine water pump had a slow leak.  We had been watching it and were prepared to replace it once we got to Fiji. However, the leak got progressively worse.  So, Matt decided to replace it in Tuvalu.

The water pump is located in front of the engine making it a challenge to access. Matt has to lean over the engine, upside down to access the pump. Many pieces and parts have to be removed including the timing belt.

Problem #2: As Matt was removing the timing belt it ripped!  Oh for the love of God!  The engine can’t run at all without a timing belt!  This is bad, very bad!

Solution: The water pump was installed, but there is nothing we can do about the timing belt.  We ordered (2) new timing belts (one for both engines) from the UK to be delivered to Fiji where we will do repairs.

More Annoying Issues

Problem:  As Matt was removing pieces from the engine to get to the water pump one of his most used sockets fell into the water.  We are in 14m depth (40′).  

We got the dive gear out and both pressure gauges had water ingress and were not readable. 

Solution:  Matt used the dive gear anyway and within 4 minutes found the socket!  Yeah.

Problem: The furler is starting to fail and is leaking.  It is still working, but we have to be gentle when using the genoa.

Solution: We ordered new bearings and seals to be sent to Fiji where we will do repairs.

Problem: The washdown pump failed.  We use this pump to hose off the boat and clean the ground tackle (with both fresh and salt water).

Solution:  Matt thought we could just take it a part, clean it and get it working.  But this 13 year old pump was done.  We will have to buy a new one.

Summary

 
We have one engine and one rudder forcing us to run between helm stations. And somehow make it to Fiji to do the repairs.
 
Good news:  
  • We can steer from the Port helm and run back to starboard to use the throttles
  • We found a stainless welder in Tuvalu (the 2nd smallest country in the world). We now have use of both rudders
  • The port engine NEW water pump is installed
  • The engine was off when the timing belt failed.
    • Would have been catastrophic if it failed with the engine on.
  • We found the socket in 14m of silty water.  New octopi will be purchased in the future
  • Matt thinks he can take the washdown pump apart, clean it, service it and get it working without a replacement.  
  • The furler still works but we have to be gentle using it.  

Trying our best to see the silver lining. We are truly blessed and know that “life happens.”  It’s just hard when it happens all at one time.

We find some joy and charm in Tuvalu – check out our last blog post.

Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind actual events.  The failures occurred between mid to end of March 2025.

Fine Tuning the Rig

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Last season (2023) we purchased brand new North 3Di sails Tour Ultra X Sails.  However, we were having a few issues with our Genoa so we we had Roger at North Whangarei do an inspection and repair. During this repair we noticed some marks on the luff of the Genoa which indicates there might be a problem with our forestay, part of our standing rig.

See “Back in the Boatyard” for the reason why we had North do an inspection on the Genoa.  During the inspection, Roger pointed out several areas of concern.  There are black marks on the luff which indicate a potential problem with the forestay.

So, we contact Matthew at Whangarei Spars and Rigging and ask him to come inspect our rig, forestay, and furler. (For convenience, I refer to Matthew at Spars Rigging as Matthew and my Matt as Matt).

First, Matt ties our two spin halyards to each bow to secure the mast.  Then Matthew uses a ginormous 24″ wrench to loosen our side stays which will allow us to remove the forestay. Then Matthew removes the furler and secures it to the bow so it doesn’t flap around.

We send Matthew up the mast to loosen the top of the forestay.

Matt slowly releases the halyard holding the top of the forestay as I direct it away from the boat and Matthew gently places it on the grass.  It is really long at 16-17m and surprisingly heavy.

Disassembly and Evaluation

We have 9 foils, 8 joiners, and 12mm rod making up the forestay which holds our Genoa sail (or jib) and tensions the front of the mast.  A joiner is used when two foils meet and each joiner has 4 tiny screws.

Some of the screws are stripped and the men have to use a heat gun to loosen them enough for removal.  At each junction of the foils are joiners which are part aluminum and plastic.  Four of our joiners will need to be replaced as they are worn out.

While we had everything down and easily accessible, I take the opportunity to clean the stainless, remaining foils, and 12mm rod.

Repairs

Matthew replaces two of the foils and 4 joiners.  He also replaced the bearing in the furler.  Putting the forestay back together took both Matt and Matthew several hours.  You have to line up the foil just right to get it on the rod, then the screw holes of the foil have to align with the screw holes of the joiners.  

Matthew uses 4000UV glue to ensure the older joiners do not slip or move. He is able to just tighten the new joiners so that they won’t move.  Each screw has loctite applied before being inserted (this will prevent them from shaking out).

The top bearing was fine and did not need to be replaced.  The bottom bear was replaced.

Installing the Rig

Once the forestay was back together, they tested it to make sure the sail could be raised and lowered smoothly.   Everything  worked well!  Next, we slowly raise the forestay to the top of the mast and fit it back to the boat.  It took a lot of effort to get it set.  We even had to use a dynema line and ratchet attached to Matthew’s truck to pull it down and tension it.  

After it was all set, Matthew tensioned the side stays.  I asked him about a rigging survey and he said our rig is in really good condition. Despite it being 8 years old.  Plus we have 4 rods which don’t show wear unless there is a broken strand and we certainly don’t have any of those!

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  The events from this blog post occurred at Norsand Boatyard in early May.  Did you read about the Boatyard Projects we did before leave?